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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23027248">You Say It's Your Birthday</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mireille/pseuds/Mireille'>Mireille</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Age Difference, First Time, M/M, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 12:55:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,803</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23027248</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mireille/pseuds/Mireille</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Seventeen's legal in New York. Surely Mr. Stark is going to say something now. </p>
<p>Eighteen's legal basically everywhere. Surely Mr. Stark is going to say something now. </p>
<p>Nineteen... maybe it's time for <i>Peter</i> to say something.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Peter Parker/Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>301</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>You Say It's Your Birthday</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/soft_princess/gifts">soft_princess</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>****</p>
</div><b><br/>  <span class="u">2018</span><br/></b><p>The State of New York considered seventeen-year-olds to be able to decide whether or not they wanted to have sex.</p>
<p>Peter had looked that up for the first time when he was fifteen, right after he'd gotten back from Berlin. Not that anything was going to happen, but just so he knew. Just in case he ever needed it. </p>
<p>He'd looked it up again right after his sixteenth birthday, just to make sure the laws hadn't changed, and again last week, after he and May had finalized the plans for his birthday dinner. </p>
<p>Knowing that had been weirdly comforting. Mr. Stark never said or did anything even a little bit untoward around Peter, not because he wasn't interested, but because Peter was too young. <i>Illegally</i> too young. </p>
<p>"Because he wasn't interested" might have been the most likely explanation, but Peter really didn't think so. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but sometimes in the lab, he'd catch Mr. Stark watching him, and Peter was sure there was <i>something</i> there. </p>
<p>But Peter was too young, so Mr. Stark wasn't going to do anything about it. </p>
<p>He was seventeen now, though. Seventeen years and four days old, to be precise, and he knew Mr. Stark knew that (well, probably Friday knew that, but she'd have reminded Mr. Stark), because there'd been a ThinkGeek gift card in his email the morning of his birthday, just like there'd been last year, and a separate suggestion that they meet for lunch before they went to the lab on Saturday afternoon, "to celebrate."</p>
<p>He'd been sure that would be when it would happen. Mr. Stark was going to take him someplace fancy, and he'd look into Peter's eyes and tell him that he'd been waiting for two years for Peter to be old enough. </p>
<p>Then, after their lab time--because it wasn't like Peter was giving up time in Tony Stark's lab, not even for sex--he'd call May and tell her that he had Spider-Man stuff to do, and he'd go back to Mr. Stark's apartment with him, and by the time that Peter was seventeen years and five days old, he wouldn't be a virgin any more. </p>
<p>Except instead, they'd met at the Middle Eastern place around the corner from the SI building that Mr. Stark's lab was in now that he'd sold the tower, and there had been a lot of garlic sauce--not exactly the most romantic of flavors--and Mr. Stark had said, "Happy birthday, kid," and squeezed his shoulder before leading the way back to the lab. </p>
<p>And now, Peter was seventeen years, one week, and two days old, and the first thing he saw when he went online this morning was the news that Tony Stark had just gotten engaged to Virginia "Pepper" Potts, CEO of Stark Industries, and seventeen was not shaping up to be Peter's year.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>****</p>
</div><b><br/>  <span class="u">2019</span><br/></b><p>Eighteen-year-olds could have sex with whoever they wanted, anywhere in the United States, and probably most of the rest of the world. </p>
<p>Eighteen-year-olds could send nude pictures of themselves without anybody getting arrested, not that Peter had ever contemplated doing that.</p>
<p>Okay, not that he'd ever <i>seriously</i> contemplated doing that. Fantasies that involved him sending sexy pictures of himself to Mr. Stark didn't count, because he wouldn't actually do that in a billion years. </p>
<p>Maybe if Mr. Stark asked (definitely if Mr. Stark asked), but he hadn't asked. </p>
<p>Seventeen, Peter had decided, had been too risky. Sure, that was legal here in New York, but it'd look bad to people in the rest of the country. And they couldn't leave the state. Or at least, if they did, they'd have to be careful where they went. </p>
<p>Also, there was a thing about transporting minors across state lines for immoral purposes, or something like that. It was probably a super reasonable law meant to protect teenagers from sex traffickers, but it could be a problem for them, since they sometimes crossed state lines for Avengers purposes. </p>
<p>So there were all kinds of reasons why someone might wait until another someone's eighteenth birthday, even if seventeen was legal where they lived. </p>
<p>And if that someone had spent the first seven months of the year that the other someone--okay, that was getting convoluted, and there was no reason to avoid naming names in the privacy of his own brain. </p>
<p>If Mr. Stark had spent the first seven months of the year that Peter was seventeen engaged to someone else, that was another very good reason for him to wait. Obviously, he wasn't going to make a move on Peter while he was engaged to Ms. Potts. (He might have. Peter wasn't that naive. That kind of thing happened all the time. But Peter was glad that Mr. Stark wasn't that kind of person.) </p>
<p>And then, no matter how "amicable" the breakup had been, for at least a month or two, Peter was sure that Mr. Stark hadn't been in any condition to consider getting involved with someone else. </p>
<p>Peter wasn't ignoring the reports on various gossip sites. Mr. Stark wasn't <i>involved</i> with any of those people, not when there was a different name linked to his every week. They were mostly, but not all, women, which at least reassured Peter that he hadn't guessed wrong about Mr. Stark being something other than completely straight.</p>
<p>The one guy whose name was mentioned (as opposed to "an unidentified man") was an underwear model. That was a lot less reassuring. </p>
<p>A ThinkGeek gift card arrived in his email again on his birthday, the same way it had on his sixteenth and seventeenth birthdays. Friday had probably been told to find out Peter's birthday and send him a gift card every year until told otherwise. </p>
<p>This time, there was no accompanying invitation to lunch. There was no anything. </p>
<p>In the lab, Peter brought the subject up as casually as he could: "So I went out with Ned and MJ on Wednesday? It was a school night, but hey, you only turn eighteen once..." and then launched into his story. </p>
<p>"You turned eighteen?" Mr. Stark said, and Peter's heart thudded in his chest. Maybe this was it. Mr. Stark had let the date slip past him, but now that he knew Peter was a legal adult...</p>
<p>"Uh, yeah. Last week. I'm all grown up now," he added, giving Mr. Stark a hopeful smile. </p>
<p>"Happy birthday, kid. Did Friday--she's supposed to send you a birthday present every year, did you get it?"</p>
<p>"Yeah. I sent you a thank-you email already," Peter said, wanting to sink into the floor and disappear. </p>
<p>"So, great. Happy birthday. Anyway, I'm not liking the results we're getting..." </p>
<p>Mr. Stark went on about the project they were working on, and Peter pretended as hard as he could that he wasn't even a little bit disappointed.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>****</p>
</div><b><br/>  <span class="u">2020</span><br/></b><p>There was nothing special about turning nineteen. It wasn't an important milestone toward becoming a real adult or anything. </p>
<p>It was just a birthday. May had baked a cake, and Ned and MJ had come over for dinner, and then Peter and Ned and his current girlfriend and MJ and her current... datefriend? Peter wasn't sure what word you used when neither "girlfriend" or "boyfriend" worked. MJ had introduced them with, "This is Quinn," which hadn't been much help in the terminology department. But anyway, they'd all gone out and had a pretty good time. </p>
<p>Two guys had given Peter their number and a third had asked him for his. He didn't want to see any of them again, but it at least helped convince Peter that he wasn't totally unattractive. </p>
<p>Just unattractive to the one person he actually wanted to attract. </p>
<p>And even that wasn't completely true. Or anyway, Peter still couldn't believe it wasn't. </p>
<p>Mr. Stark hadn't said anything, true. And while he didn't behave exactly the same way toward Peter as he had when Peter had been fifteen, the changes could all be chalked up to "we know each other a lot better now and are actually friends, not a kid and his mentor." </p>
<p>It was hard to pin down exactly why Peter was so sure that whatever was holding Mr. Stark back, it wasn't that he didn't find Peter attractive. </p>
<p>It was a combination of little things. The times Peter got the feeling that someone was watching him, but when he turned his head, Mr. Stark was looking away. Usually, to Peter's eyes at least, very deliberately away. </p>
<p>The number of casual touches that happened in the lab: hands brushing, knees or shoulders bumping, Mr. Stark's hand on his shoulder as he leaned over to look at Peter's work. Sure, accidental touches happened and were no big deal. Peter sometimes brushed fingers with his chemistry lab partner, or he and Ned leaned against one another as they worked on a LEGO set. </p>
<p>But they didn't happen all the time, and while that might be a tiny bit of an exaggeration, it was pretty close to the truth. </p>
<p>Some of the things Mr. Stark said felt like flirting, too. There wasn't anything he could pin down. It wasn't overt. It was never <i>what</i> he said; it was the way he said it. The warmth in his voice, the way he'd speak directly into Peter's ear even if there was no one else around to overhear. </p>
<p>Still, that had been going on for most of the last year, at least, and Mr. Stark had never gotten around to anything more direct. Mr. Stark had never even gotten around to "you're an adult now, call me Tony." </p>
<p>So it was a relief to find out that he really wasn't some kind of hideous troll that nobody would want to flirt with, because sometimes Peter wondered. </p>
<p>Now, armed with that knowledge, he'd come up with an idea. An amazing, brilliant, terrifying idea. </p>
<p>If Mr. Stark wasn't going to ever make a move, that meant it was up to Peter to do it. </p>
<p>At the very least, he told himself, he'd know the truth. If Mr. Stark said something like, "I'm flattered, but no thanks," Peter would know that he'd been reading way too much into innocent situations, and maybe knowing that would let him move on. There were other guys in the world. Other guys who had no problem letting Peter know they were interested. </p>
<p>And if Peter knew for sure that Mr. Stark didn't want him, then maybe he'd be able to get interested in those other guys. </p>
<p>Mr. Stark wouldn't be angry or disgusted; Peter was sure of that. So while it might make things weird between them for a while, it'd probably all work out okay in the end. He'd hardly be the first person to be rejected by Tony Stark, he was sure. </p>
<p>So that was it. He was nineteen years old (plus six days). That was old enough to know what he wanted, and to try to get it. </p>
<p>He waited until they'd been in the lab for a couple of hours, when Friday was running through simulations for them and they didn't have anything to do but drink coffee and wait for the results. </p>
<p>Then he decided the best thing to do would be to just get right to the point. That way there wouldn't be any room for miscommunication. It might be awkward and lacking in suavity, but if Mr. Stark didn't like "awkward" and "lacking in suavity," Peter didn't stand a chance anyway. </p>
<p>"Mr. Stark?" </p>
<p>Mr. Stark finished his coffee and set the mug down on the nearest table. "Yeah, kid?"</p>
<p>Kid. That didn't bode well, but Peter had committed to this, and he was going to see it through. "Can I kiss you? Because I really want to do that right now, if that's okay." </p>
<p>He wondered how many other people could say that they'd left Tony Stark speechless. There were a good ten seconds--okay, no, there were a terrible, horrible, agonizing ten seconds--that Mr. Stark just stared at him, his mouth hanging open. </p>
<p>Peter still really wanted to kiss him. </p>
<p>"I don't think I could have heard you right," Mr. Stark said at last.</p>
<p>"Did you hear me asking if I could kiss you? Because then you heard me right," Peter said, his heart sinking. This was definitely going to be a no, and it didn't even look like it was going to be an ego-preserving "I'm really flattered, but..." kind of no. </p>
<p>"Hell no, you can't kiss me," Mr. Stark spluttered. "You're what, sixteen?" </p>
<p>"I'm nineteen," Peter said. </p>
<p>"You turned sixteen."</p>
<p>"Yeah, I did. Three years ago. Friday sent me a gift card to ThinkGeek in your name. She does that every year." He'd hoped, his seventeenth birthday when Mr. Stark had actually sent him email about his birthday, that meant that Mr. Stark had started paying attention, but since it hadn't ever been repeated, he figured that was a fluke. </p>
<p>"We went out and had lunch," Mr. Stark said. "That was your sixteenth birthday."</p>
<p>"Seventeenth," Peter said. "Two years ago." He shook his head. "You're really not good at this, are you? The whole remembering stuff like birthdays. Or that I told you, last year, that I was eighteen."</p>
<p>"I'm really not," he confirmed. "Though in your case there's a reason." </p>
<p>Peter winced. "Please don't spell out to me that you don't remember because it's really not important to you. I already got the message." He took another sip of his coffee and then set his cup down. "We should get back to work." </p>
<p>"No, we really shouldn't," Mr. Stark said, putting a hand on Peter's arm. "Pete, hold on a minute. Hear me out." </p>
<p>Peter turned his chair so that he could look directly at Mr. Stark. "I really just want to go die of embarrassment now," he said. </p>
<p>"Please don't," Mr. Stark said. "Don't go, and definitely don't die. I'm the one who should be embarrassed."</p>
<p>"I'm listening," Peter said. He chewed on his bottom lip while he waited for Mr. Stark to say whatever it was that he had to say that he thought would make it better that one, he didn't want Peter, and two, he was apparently actively trying to not remember Peter's birthday. </p>
<p>"You know how there are people--guys my age, mostly--who keep countdowns to the eighteenth birthday of teen actresses, that kind of thing. The Olsen twins--do you even know who they are?--and that kid from the Harry Potter movies. Or, uh, what's-her-name, the girl from that Netflix show. It's kind of gross."</p>
<p>Peter nodded. "I mean, I don't know anybody who's ever done that, but yeah, I get the concept."</p>
<p>"I did not want to be one of those guys." He sighed. "I mean, the fact that I had to consciously decide not to be one of those guys means that I pretty much am one of those guys, but I didn't want to be, and so I just very consciously stopped paying attention to how old you were. I just let myself keep thinking of you as a kid. A young kid." </p>
<p>He laughed a little. "Pretty successfully, obviously, since I really did lose track of three years in there. I could have sworn you were still sixteen."</p>
<p>"I'm in college, Mr. Stark."</p>
<p>"I went to MIT when I was fifteen," he pointed out. "You could be sixteen and in college." </p>
<p>"So...you've been trying not to think about the possibility I was going to turn eighteen, and that means that you completely didn't notice that I'm nineteen now?" </p>
<p>"Something like that, yeah." </p>
<p>If Peter didn't know Mr. Stark and wasn't well aware that he didn't tend to approach the world the way that normal people did, he might have called bullshit on that argument. But Mr. Stark was capable of remembering the tiniest detail of something Peter had said to him, but completely forgetting how old Peter was. It was definitely believable. </p>
<p>And the fact that Mr. Stark had had to consciously decide not to focus on waiting for Peter to turn eighteen must have meant that he really wanted Peter to be eighteen, right? That was actually good news. Weird, but good.</p>
<p>"So now that you know that I'm not sixteen," he said, "should I ask you that question again?" </p>
<p>"What question was that?"</p>
<p>Peter knew that Mr. Stark was trying to make a bad joke, but he repeated himself anyway. "Can I kiss you? Because I really want to, and I'm nineteen years old, and that means that it's allowed. I mean, if you want me to, it's allowed. If you don't--"</p>
<p>Peter never got the chance to explain what would happen if Mr. Stark didn't want to kiss him, because Mr. Stark had leaned over to kiss Peter. </p>
<p>Peter wondered if he should mention that he hadn't had a lot of experience with kissing. He'd dated a few girls back in high school--the date with Liz hadn't gone anywhere, obviously, but he and MJ had tried going out for a while, and there'd been a couple other girls before he realized that the major problem had been that he wasn't actually into girls at all. </p>
<p>He could have tried dating guys, but he hadn't wanted to come out in high school. The last thing he'd needed was something else for Flash to pick on him about. By the time he'd graduated and started college, he'd figured out that he wasn't interested in dating guys in general. He'd wanted to date a particular guy, the one he'd been telling himself he really needed to move on from. </p>
<p>Except that it looked like he really didn't have to move on at all, because Mr. Stark was kissing him. </p>
<p>Peter was pretty sure he wasn't a good kisser. He was doing his best, but he mostly felt flustered and surprised and awkward as he tried to kiss back. </p>
<p>And clearly, he was doing a terrible job of hiding that, because Mr. Stark pulled back to look at him, one hand cupping Peter's chin. </p>
<p>"Hey, kid," Mr. Stark said, and he managed to make "kid" sound like an endearment, "it's okay if you changed your mind. We don't have to do this."</p>
<p>"No!" Peter said. "I didn't change my mind, I just--" He waved his hands awkwardly, trying to find the right words. "I was just surprised," he said. "And I haven't kissed that many people before."</p>
<p>"It's okay," Mr. Stark said. "As long as you're sure you're still interested."</p>
<p>"I am <i>so</i> interested," Peter said. "Like, extremely. Super-interested." He realized with horror that he was just going to keep talking, blurting out increasingly dumb things, unless he did something to make himself stop. </p>
<p>So he kissed Mr. Stark again, and because he was expecting it this time, it went a little better. Or maybe a lot better. </p>
<p>He wasn't sure what Mr. Stark thought of it, since he'd presumably had a lot more experience kissing people than Peter had, but he wasn't complaining or making Peter stop, and he was kissing back. Peter chose to interpret those things as both being very good signs. </p>
<p>When Peter finally had to stop so that he could get air, he felt like he was never going to be able to stop grinning. Mr. Stark was smiling too. Over the years, Peter had learned to tell the difference between the way Mr. Stark's real smile and the ones he gave when there were cameras or crowds around.</p>
<p>This was definitely a real one; it wasn't very big, but it showed fewer teeth than the fake smiles, and it went all the way to his eyes. </p>
<p>Making Mr. Stark smile like that always made Peter feel like he'd accomplished something important. Important to him, anyway, even if nobody else was likely to see it that way. </p>
<p>"Tell me," Mr. Stark said, picking up his coffee and taking a sip, "how, exactly, did you picture this turning out?"</p>
<p>"Like this," Peter said, somewhat confused. "I mean, I usually pictured you giving me a speech about how you were flattered, really, but you weren't interested in me like that. But when I let myself be optimistic... this." </p>
<p>He smiled again. "Okay, wrong question. What do you want from this? I mean, if what you wanted was the experience of kissing me, that's fine, we're good, I hope you found it enjoyable. But is that all you wanted?"</p>
<p>Peter gulped. Was he going to sound creepy and weird if he told Mr. Stark what he'd actually been hoping for?</p>
<p>No, he told himself firmly. No, Mr. Stark had made it clear that he was attracted to Peter, and that he had been for long enough that he'd felt guilty about it. Telling Mr. Stark that he wanted more than this was not going to make him think Peter was creepy and weird. </p>
<p>"No," he said. "Of course that's not all I want. I mean, are you not aware that I've had a huge crush on you since I was fifteen? Before that, really, but then I had a crush on Iron Man, not on <i>you</i>." </p>
<p>He really didn't want to get into that, so he just kept talking. "I know you probably don't think of me as an adult, or somebody you could take seriously, but I really like you, Mr. Stark."</p>
<p>"I'm going to stop you right there," he said, and Peter tried not to look heartbroken. "I really prefer people that I've just been kissing to call me Tony, not 'Mr. Stark.'" </p>
<p>"I can do that," Peter said, sighing with relief. "Sorry. What I meant was, I really like you, Tony. I liked kissing you, and I'd really love to do a lot more of that, not to mention a lot of other stuff that goes along with kissing." He grinned at Mr.--at Tony. "I mean, if you're okay with that, and I think you are? Right?" </p>
<p>"Yeah," Tony said. "I probably shouldn't be. I mean, yes, you're nineteen, it's completely legal, but that doesn't make it a good idea."</p>
<p>"It's a great idea," Peter argued. "And for the record, I'd also like to actually, you know, date you. Go out in public together. Watch movies and eat popcorn on your couch. And, well, do a lot of this--" he waved his hands to encompass the lab-- "but with occasional breaks for kissing. If," he said again, "you're okay with that. I know it's not exactly the kind of thing you're used to." </p>
<p>"No," Tony agreed. "It's definitely not the kind of thing I'm used to. When I date people, it's usually five-star restaurants, trendy clubs, and charity galas. And a lot of being too busy to go anywhere at all."</p>
<p>"There can be some of that?" Peter said. "But we have fun together. Like when you've showed me all those old movies. Or those times you've come out with me on patrol and we get hot dogs. You've had fun, right? You weren't just pretending?"</p>
<p>Tony smiled at him, reaching out to curve his hand around the back of Peter's neck. It felt good there, warm and comforting, but with just a hint of something more intense behind it. "I wasn't pretending. I'm not objecting, either. I am saying that a lot of people aren't going to like it."</p>
<p>"A lot of people don't like a lot of stuff you do," Peter said; it might not be the most tactful approach, but it was still true. "You do it anyway." </p>
<p>"You've got me there." Tony laughed, but then abruptly turned serious. "Your aunt, that's who I'm worried about. I don't want to drive a wedge in between you and your family." </p>
<p>"Let me handle Aunt May," Peter said, even though he wasn't sure how he was going to do that. The fact that Tony hadn't even really hinted at being interested in Peter before now--sure, Peter had had his suspicions, but he'd never been able to be sure--would probably be a point in his favor. The fact that Peter had been the one to make the first move was another. </p>
<p>The fact that Peter was going to do this whether May liked it or not would be a third. She might not love it, but as long as Peter was safe and happy, she'd keep her disapproval to herself. And eventually, she'd come around. Peter had to believe that. </p>
<p>"She's going to hate this," Tony said. </p>
<p>"Probably. But I'm going to tell her right away, before she finds out some other way, like someone snapping a picture of us and putting it on the internet, and... I'm nineteen. I'm allowed to make my own choices." </p>
<p>"And this is really what you want?"</p>
<p>"It's going to be weird," Peter admitted. "Everyone knows Spider-Man, but Peter Parker's a nobody. If we're publicly together... the attention's going to be weird. But worth it," he said. "Definitely worth it." </p>
<p>Tony didn't say anything else, just got to his feet, reaching for Peter's hand. "We should talk about this somewhere more private," he said as he pulled Peter upright. </p>
<p>"Talk, or, you know, 'talk'?" Peter asked, trying not to laugh. </p>
<p>"I was thinking a little of both." </p>
<p>"Well, I'd ask 'your place or mine'? but my aunt's going to be home in less than an hour, and it's going to take a lot of that time to get there, so..." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"So we'll go to my place," Tony said. "We'll talk. If you still want to after that, we can do some things that aren't talking."</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p> ****</p>
</div>Peter was surprised that they'd actually had to talk. He'd have figured Tony would have wanted to keep this whole "talking about relationships" thing to a minimum, but they'd spent at least forty-five minutes in actual conversation once they got to Tony's apartment. Peter hadn't ever been there before, so he took a minute to look around.<p>Tony had gotten him a Coke and poured himself a drink, and they'd sat side by side, but not actually touching, on the couch. </p>
<p>It wasn't a very comfortable couch. Nothing in the apartment looked very comfortable. It looked like a magazine layout of a living room, all black leather and shiny chrome, the only parts of it that looked real all clustered on one bookshelf: some books, but also a few framed photographs--including one of Peter and Tony, surprisingly enough--and some cheesy Iron Man toys. </p>
<p>Also one War Machine action figure. No Spider-Man, though. Peter decided he'd have to do something about that.</p>
<p>Tony chuckled when he saw that Peter had noticed the bookcase. "I get sent samples of a lot of officially-licensed stuff. I don't keep all of it, but sometimes... that weird blocky stuffed animal thing was just too bizarre not to keep." </p>
<p>Peter grinned. "I bought a cheap knock-off 'Spiders-Man' action figure from the dollar store," he confessed. "I've never been tempted to collect any of the other stuff--I mean, secret identity, but also..." He shrugged. "What am I going to do with action figures of me? But that thing was just so terrible that I couldn't resist. It gave me eight legs! Well, four arms and four legs, but still, I'm not an actual spider." </p>
<p>"That's a relief," Tony said, and that broke the ice a little. Peter hadn't even realized how awkward he felt in that weird sterile living room until he didn't any more. </p>
<p>After that, Peter started learning that dating Tony Stark was going to be more complicated than dating some guy he met in calculus class. Tony apologized repeatedly and promised to do everything he could to keep attention away from Peter. "But there's still going to be some attention," he said. "Pictures on Twitter, that kind of thing. I'm rich, I'm Iron Man, and I'm old enough to be your dad. People are going to have opinions. They're not all going to be nice about it, either. Some of that's going to be directed at me, but not all of it." </p>
<p>Peter chewed his lip for a minute, not because he didn't know what he thought, but because he didn't know how to say it. Finally, he shrugged. "Then I definitely need to tell May right away, don't I?" </p>
<p>"Yeah, you probably do. And if we keep a fairly low profile--" </p>
<p>"I don't want to keep this a secret."</p>
<p>"Not a secret. Just... not making a scene about it. We go out to dinner, but not to the hottest new restaurant. I take you to some functions as my date, but we skip anything that's likely to get a lot of press coverage. And we also do stuff like go to the movies and eat hot dogs and argue about engineering."</p>
<p>Okay. That sounded more like what Peter wanted. He wanted to date Tony, not to be a media spectacle with Tony. Some of that was going to be unavoidable, but maybe not all of it? Maybe they could be at least kind of normal. This was New York, after all, there were a lot of people more famous than Tony Stark walking around Manhattan. </p>
<p>It could be fine. </p>
<p>"Yeah, okay," Peter said. "That sounds like what I was hoping for, anyway. You don't pretend that I don't exist, but we're not going to try to get our pictures taken everywhere we go. And this isn't just--" </p>
<p>Oh, God, he was going to have to say it, and that was going to be totally embarrassing. "This isn't just a sex thing. I mean, you're hot. I have many years of dirty fantasies about you that I'm sure you're going to get me to confess one of these days. But that's not all this is, tight?" </p>
<p>"Definitely not," Tony said. "Your aunt sometimes scares the hell out of me. I wouldn't be contemplating having to face her down if all I wanted was sex. I can get sex from people who <i>don't</i> have terrifying aunts." </p>
<p>Peter laughed. "May's not that scary." </p>
<p>"She loves you," Tony pointed out. "She's never been that wild about me even before she finds out about us." </p>
<p>"Fair enough. But she doesn't hate you. I mean, she thought your internship was a terrible thing for me before she knew about Spider-Man, but now she's warmed up to you a lot." Maybe not enough that she'd be great with having Tony as a nephew-in-law, but it wasn't like they were anywhere near that kind of relationship. </p>
<p>They hadn't even gone out on a date. They'd kissed, and they were talking about dating, but that was all. There was time for Tony to win her over.</p>
<p>And Peter had had enough of talking for right now. "Okay, now that we've established that this isn't just about sex, can we stop talking about my aunt and start talking about sex?"</p>
<p>He couldn't blame Tony for laughing at that. Peter was laughing too, for that matter, because he knew how that sounded. "I'm serious, though." </p>
<p>"Okay," Tony said. "What do you want to talk about?"</p>
<p>"You know I haven't actually had sex before."</p>
<p>"No," Tony said. "I didn't know that, because it's not like there's a neon sign over your head that says 'virgin' or anything. I guessed that you hadn't, because I'm not sure you could have not talked about it, but I didn't know."</p>
<p>"I could totally have had sex and not talked about it." </p>
<p>"Really? You told me when you got a D on a calculus quiz because you read the question wrong, you told me when some girl grabbed your butt in the hall at school, and you told me in excruciating detail about your awkward non-romance with your friend MJ. I was very surprised to find out that M was for Michelle, not Michael, by the way." </p>
<p>"Excruciating?"</p>
<p>Tony shrugged. "Maybe that's an exaggeration, but definitely <i>detail</i>. It was also pretty painful to have to bite my tongue after I found out that the M wasn't for 'male,' because I figured I could have told you what went wrong there."</p>
<p>Peter laughed. "Yeah, okay, you'd have been right, too. Anyway. I've done pretty well at keeping Spider-Man a secret." He considered for a moment. "From the world at large, anyway." </p>
<p>"You have. But that's the kind of thing that can endanger lives. That's a little different."</p>
<p>"You didn't know I had a crush on you." </p>
<p>Tony made a face. "Strictly speaking, that is not even remotely true. I ignored that you had a crush on me, which isn't the same thing." </p>
<p>"I think we're getting off the subject," Peter said. He was sure Tony knew that really meant, "I'm losing this debate," but that was okay. Especially since he really did want to get back on topic, since the topic was sex. With Tony. </p>
<p>"Okay," Tony said. "Last thing I remember was you telling me you'd never had sex before. Just to be sure, because people have different definitions, what have you done before?"</p>
<p>"Kissing," Peter said. "I've kissed people. Mostly girls." Which was true, because he'd kissed Tony, so that made it only "mostly" girls that he'd kissed. He didn't have to mention that he'd only kissed three girls.</p>
<p>Tony rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Jesus."</p>
<p>Peter could feel his face getting hot. "I'm sorry," he said, even though he wasn't totally sure what he was apologizing for. "I know you're probably used to people who know what they're doing, really hot people with experience, and--"</p>
<p>"Stop," Tony said. "You're not wrong; I don't think I've ever had sex with someone who's never done more than kissing. At least, if they hadn't, I couldn't tell. But that's not bad. It's just... I'm not great with responsibility, and that's a big one."</p>
<p>"You're Iron Man," Peter said. "You're an Avenger. How does that make you 'not great with responsibility'?" </p>
<p>"This kind of responsibility," he clarified. "The kind that means that if I fuck this up, you're going to be, I don't know, emotionally traumatized." </p>
<p>"It's going to be fine," Peter said. </p>
<p>"If you say something chirpy like, 'I have faith in you, Mr. Stark!' I may never recover." </p>
<p>"I wouldn't," he insisted. "You told me not to call you 'Mr. Stark' anymore."</p>
<p>Tony laughed. "You got me there, kid." </p>
<p>"And I do have faith in you, but that wasn't what I was going to say. What I was going to say is that it may not be super great the first couple of times, but I don't think sex with you is going to be emotionally traumatic. You care about me, right?" </p>
<p>Tony hesitated, so Peter rushed in to add, "I'm not asking for any big declaration. But you care whether or not I get hurt, and whether I have a good time, yeah?" </p>
<p>It stung a tiny bit that Tony hadn't been able to answer the unqualified question, but Peter reminded himself that he wasn't about to blurt out all his feelings tonight, either. They liked each other. They were attracted to each other. Everything else could build from there. </p>
<p>"Of course I do." </p>
<p>"So you're not going to traumatize me. The worst case scenario is that I dislike it enough that I don't want to do it again, or at least not with you, and I don't think that one's very likely." </p>
<p>"I'll do my best to prevent it."</p>
<p>"And--" Ugh, he was blushing again, why couldn't he stop that? "It's kind of hot that you have so much more experience than I do," he added quickly. </p>
<p>Tony grinned at him. "I'm so glad you said that," he said. "I was thinking it, but I didn't know if I could say it without sounding creepy."</p>
<p>"You definitely can," Peter said. "And you're a really good mentor," he said firmly, "so it's going to be awesome to have you teaching me more stuff." </p>
<p>"Oh, yeah?" Tony slid forward on the couch, his arms going around Peter again. Then he kissed Peter, slowly and very thoroughly. "How about we get started on that now?"</p>
<p>"I don't think I'm ready for, um. Everything. Not tonight." </p>
<p>Tony pulled back a little to look at him. "By 'everything,' do you mean actual intercourse?"</p>
<p>Peter nodded. "Later, one day, yes, definitely." Oh, God, definitely yes. "But not today."</p>
<p>Tony smiled at him. "Good thing that wasn't in the plans for tonight." </p>
<p>"It wasn't?" Peter had figured that since Tony wasn't a clueless virgin like Peter was, he'd have wanted to actually have sex with Peter, not just fool around some. </p>
<p>Tony shook his head. "Not just because you said you're not ready, though obviously, that would have made me change my plans if that had been part of them." He smiled at Peter then, a slow smile that left Peter feeling a little overheated, even though the room was on the cool side. </p>
<p>"But as your mentor, I'm leaning toward a very carefully planned, painstaking, series of lessons, and that's definitely not in the first session. Or the second. Or even the third." </p>
<p>"You planned this out?"</p>
<p>That smile again. "Let's say that I've been considering this particular scenario for quite a bit longer than I should have," he said. </p>
<p>Peter felt himself blushing again at the realization that Tony had been fantasizing about Peter asking him for this kind of "mentorship." "Me too," he said. </p>
<p>"Good," Tony said. "Now look at me." Peter looked up, and Tony cupped his face in his hands, kissing him again. </p>
<p>Peter kissed back, feeling a little more confident now. See, Tony's lessons were working already. "Is there more to today's lesson than kissing?" </p>
<p>Tony laughed. "That depends on you. Do you think you're ready to move on?" </p>
<p>Peter didn't know if he was ready to move on--he wasn't sure what level of kissing ability would justify that, or how to judge it anyway--but he definitely wanted to go farther than that today. "I'm a quick learner," he said hopefully. </p>
<p>"True." Tony considered for a minute, and then said, "Take your shirt off." </p>
<p>"Just my shirt?" </p>
<p>"Just your shirt," he confirmed. "We're not rushing into anything." </p>
<p>Peter decided to use his initiative and assume that "just your shirt" meant both his hoodie and the T-shirt he had on under it. When he emerged from under his hoodie, he discovered that Tony was doing the same thing; he'd unbuttoned his shirt and was shrugging out of it. </p>
<p>He saw Peter watching him and paused, winking at Peter before he started to slowly peel off the tank top underneath. </p>
<p>"Ooh," Peter said, laughing, "I get a show."</p>
<p>"Damn right you do," Tony said. </p>
<p>Sure, it was funny, but Peter also appreciated the view. </p>
<p>No, Tony didn't look like a guy in porn. The hair on his chest was patchy because of scar tissue, and while it was obvious that Tony watched what he ate (at least some of the time) and went to the gym (more often, which made sense considering the kind of things Tony did in his "spare" time), he hadn't been hiding a six-pack under his shirt, either. </p>
<p>That definitely wasn't a perfect physique. A good body, definitely, but one belonging to a guy with priorities beyond reducing his body-fat percentage.</p>
<p>But it was Tony, and that was what mattered to Peter. He'd wanted Tony as long as he could remember wanting <i>anyone</i>. A lot of his earliest fantasies had involved Iron Man rescuing him from something and then Peter showing his appreciation. Later, after the spider bite, they'd involved the two of them fighting crime together, but with the same kind of ending. </p>
<p>Now they mostly involved the lab, or arguing about movies, or Tony trying to give Peter a "musical education," which meant listening to Tony's music when they worked or when they were in the training area at the compound. </p>
<p>Now his fantasies looked a lot like this: two guys who knew each other pretty well, who liked each other pretty well, who might, at least on one side, be on their way to loving each other.</p>
<p>Peter finished peeling his own T-shirt off and shrugged, trying to resist the urge to hunch his shoulders. In high school, he'd done his best in gym class to make himself look small. Hunching over in the locker room and wearing baggy shirts and sweaters had meant nobody really noticed that Peter had more muscles than he probably should. </p>
<p>He didn't have to do that with Tony, though. He could just smile a little and say, "Like this?"</p>
<p>"Oh, I do," Tony said, reaching out to run a hand over Peter's chest. </p>
<p>Peter was about to point out that that wasn't what he meant, but then he caught the glint of humor in Tony's eyes and realized that Tony knew that already. </p>
<p>"You're being ridiculous," Peter said, and Tony laughed. </p>
<p>"I am," he admitted. "I feel ridiculous. Both in the sense that I feel kind of ridiculous to be in the process of seducing someone less than half my age, and in the sense that I feel like being ridiculous. You bring that out in me." </p>
<p>"I'd kind of like a little more of today's lesson than you looking at me with my shirt off, too," Peter said. Okay, Tony was also touching him, but Peter had kind of been hoping for actual sex of some variety today. Kissing and touching were both awesome, but it felt like he'd been waiting forever for this, and "more" was sounding like a great plan to him. </p>
<p>"Come here, then," Tony said, patting his thigh. </p>
<p>"On your lap?" Peter hadn't sat on anyone's lap since he was a kid. It seemed kind of weird to do it now. </p>
<p>"Yeah." Tony moved over a little bit, farther way from the arm of the couch. "Facing me." </p>
<p>Peter pictured that in his mind for a moment. Oh. Yeah. That could work. He clambered onto Tony's lap, one knee digging into the couch on each side of Tony. "Is this right?" </p>
<p>"Yeah." Tony put his arms around Peter, smiling. "Yeah, exactly right." His hands skimmed over Peter's back, then dipped down, fingers slipping underneath the waistband of Peter's jeans as Tony kissed him again. </p>
<p>In this new position, "just" making out held more appeal. Peter decided he wanted to explore a little, and began kissing his way down Tony's throat, then dipped his tongue into the hollow made by Tony's collarbone. "Is this okay?" he asked, when Tony groaned. </p>
<p>"This is great," Tony assured him. "You just do whatever you want to. I'll tell you if I don't like it, but I don't expect that to happen." </p>
<p>Tony's hands were cupping Peter's ass now, kneading and squeezing him through his jeans, which were starting to get a little tight in the front. </p>
<p>"Not even if I do this?" Peter asked, sucking at the skin stretched over the collarbone; that was low enough down that he could risk leaving a mark, so he sucked hard enough that the skin turned deep red, and Peter felt sure that it would be a dark bruise by morning.</p>
<p>Tony whined, and Peter lifted his head, kissing Tony again. He liked seeing the mark there, and he liked knowing he'd pulled that kind of sound out of Tony Stark, who could basically go to bed with anyone he wanted. </p>
<p>And he wanted Peter. </p>
<p>Peter slid forward, as far as he could, until his cock was pressed against Tony's stomach, and now it was his turn to whine. "Do something," he said. "Please?" </p>
<p>Tony was laughing a little, but Peter didn't feel like he was being made fun of, at least. "I think you've found your confidence all of a sudden," he said, sliding a hand between them and rubbing it over Peter's cock, then unbuttoning Peter's jeans and pulling the zipper down. "Or maybe you're just letting this do your thinking right now." </p>
<p>"A little of both?" Peter suggested, as Tony reached in and took Peter's cock out. "And I'm probably going to set a world record for 'most premature ejaculation,' so..." </p>
<p>"Not a problem," Tony reassured him. "I used to be nineteen, remember?" He kissed Peter again, oddly gentle given that his hand had started moving on Peter's cock. </p>
<p>"Let's just get this taken care of," he said, as Peter moaned and arched into his hand. "Plenty of time for another round later." </p>
<p>"Should I--" Peter began, reaching out toward Tony's zipper, but Tony shook his head. </p>
<p>"Later," he said. "Right now, I want to focus on you."</p>
<p>Unfortunately, having Tony focused on him was so exactly like a lot of Peter's fantasies that it was all over too quickly; Tony found just the right way to twist his wrist as he stroked Peter, and Peter came, biting his lip to keep from crying out too loudly in Tony's ear. </p>
<p>All too soon, he was resting his head on Tony's shoulder, sighing. </p>
<p>"Something wrong?"</p>
<p>"Just..." He shrugged. "I'd have liked to last more than ninety seconds?" </p>
<p>Tony kissed him again. "It's still early, you know. Not even seven o'clock. I meant what I said--we have plenty of time later." </p>
<p>Peter shrugged again. "I kind of figured after this, you wouldn't want a 'later.'" </p>
<p>"Now you're just fishing for compliments," Tony said. This time, when he kissed Peter, it was on his forehead, which felt less like sex and more like Tony really... </p>
<p>Oh, God, he was such a dork, he'd just been thinking it felt like Tony really liked him. </p>
<p>He'd <i>hope</i> Tony liked him, after this. It'd be a real shame if he didn't.</p>
<p>"Yeah," he admitted. "That's exactly what I'm doing, but you're not falling for it." </p>
<p>Tony laughed again. "Let me order something to eat; you might not have noticed, but I've heard your stomach growling more than once." </p>
<p>He hadn't noticed. No surprise; this had been pretty distracting. "Okay."</p>
<p>"And then," Tony said, "if you still want to fish for compliments, I'll tell you how pretty you are. Or how smart you are, which you'd probably like better." </p>
<p>"You could do both," Peter suggested. "Or we could clean up, get food, and see if Friday has finished those simulations. And then, later, we can have more sex." </p>
<p>He'd text May and tell her he was staying over at Ned's. Tomorrow, he'd tell her the truth, but he didn't want to have that conversation over the phone. </p>
<p>He did need to have it right away, though, because he wasn't going to do well at keeping it under wraps, not when he felt this happy about it. </p>
<p>Maybe this hadn't happened when he'd wanted it to, but he had every hope that it was going to be worth the wait.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>****</p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So, this fic is not actually co-written. Both of those author names are me. </p>
<p>I've made no secret over the past couple of years that this was a sockpuppet for Peter/Tony fic. And for various reasons (mostly having to do with upcoming fic), I've decided that I don't really give a crap, and so I'm going to shift all my fic over to my main fandom pseud. </p>
<p>Because I'm not deleting/reposting (I'm adding my main pseud as a co-creator, and then after a couple of months I'll remove Saperli_Popette), bookmarks and links should still work. I'm going to be posting my next few Peter/Tony fics (there are three, total, that should be posted in March and April) this way, and then start posting just under Mireille. I figured doing it this way would let anyone subscribed to me update that. </p>
<p>In other news, I have two more Peter/Tony fics that are ready to post over the next several weeks, and one more that's being edited and will hopefully be ready to post by May. (The fic that I have tentatively planned for May will be the first one that's not posted under Saperli_Popette at all, and when I post it, I'm also going to move all my old fic over.) </p>
<p>Hope it's not too confusing!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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